1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of graphical user interfaces (GUIs). More specifically, the present invention is related to multiple level pie menus.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
A goal of software producers is not only to produce a great source code which operates without error, but also to produce a product which the consumer interacts with quickly and easily. Graphical user interfaces, such as icons, cursors, pop-up windows, and menus, have always played a large part in elevating the user""s ease of interaction with the software program.
Traditional menu systems arrange a list of selections in a top-to-bottom linear configuration. The user typically uses the keyboard or mouse to point to a desired menu item. Popular selections are frequently placed at the top, with a descending order of usage for the remaining items. However, when a list of menu items becomes long, it becomes difficult for the average user to quickly review the list and even more difficult to recall from prior selections the exact content and positions of menu items. Prior art systems break the list into multiple smaller lists. In some cases, the lists are organized by general menu headings. Upon selection of a specific general heading, an additional menu list referred to as a xe2x80x9cchild menuxe2x80x9d becomes visible on the user""s screen. Usually the second list represents more specific items within the general menu headings and partially overlaps the originally selected menu item.
Problems with linear list menus are many. First of all, people are generally bad with lists. A grocery list is good for a few items, however as the list becomes longer, the first few items are remembered, with the lower items being forgotten. As the list becomes longer, the ease of memory recall becomes increasingly more difficult. When selecting items from a long list, the bottom items require traversal of the list from top-to-bottom, therefore creating a distance and consequentially time delay effect on menu selections. What is needed is a distance and time invariant arrangement.
Pie menus have long been known as a method of quick object selection. In a pie menu, a user""s cursor located at the center is distance invariant, i.e. the distance to select any one menu item is the same. Pie menus typically reduce selection time by 15% or more. The benefits and weaknesses of pie menus over traditional linear menus has been described in a publication by Hopkins, P., entitled xe2x80x9cDirection Selection is Easy as Pie Menusxe2x80x9d and found in the periodical Computer Graphics Workshop, Oct. 10, 1997.
Problems with pie menus center around the limited curve drawing abilities of prior art computer displays in combination with a general limitation on the number of slices any pie can have without producing a confused or crowded menu for the user. Eight or less pie slices are generally required to keep an uncluttered, easy to use pie menu. The prior art has resorted to placing additional menu items in separate charts either in parallel or in a visually overlapping hierarchical relationship. Other variations include a combination pie menu and linear menu arrangement. Each of these solutions decreases the benefits of the basic pie menu and significantly increases distance and time requirements. Examples of prior art systems are described below.
The patent to Driskell (U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,699) provides for a Linear-Viewing/Radial-Selection Graphic For Menu Display. This reference discloses a menu display system which displays menu options according to their frequency of selection (see abstract and claim 8). Driskell is limited by the continued use of linear list configurations.
The patent to Kurtenbach (U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,667) provides for a Methods And System Of Controlling Menus With Radial And Linear Portions. This reference discloses a menu system which groups menu items based on their frequency of selection. As with the Driskell reference, Kurtenbach retains menu selections in a linear list arrangement.
The patent to Atkinson (U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,424), assigned to Microsoft Corporation, provides for a Palladian Menus And Methods Relating Thereto. This reference discloses a menu in which high frequency commands are placed within wedges of the circular portion of a pie shaped menu. While arranging the first level of menus in a Palladian profile, second level menus retain the prior art linear lists of menu items.
What is needed is a solution comprising multiple level pie menus without the drawbacks of the prior art. Whatever the precise merits, features, and advantages of the above cited references, none of them achieve or fulfills the purposes of the present invention. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a multiple level pie menu graphical user interface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for a concentric pie menu system.
It is an additional object of the present invention to place most frequently selected items nearest the center of concentric pie menus.
It is an additional object of the present invention to place categories towards the center and sub-categories towards exterior levels of pie menus.
It is an additional object of the present invention to split pie sectors as they extend away from the center level into additional hierarchically related menu items.
It is an additional object of the present invention to include irregularly shaped pie menus.
These and other objects are achieved by the detailed description that follows.
A graphical user interface includes a plurality of pie menu levels concentrically arranged. Located within the center most section, hereafter level 1, are menu selections generally of greater importance, highest probability of use, historical favorites, category headings, tabs from a tab menu, as well as other preselected criteria.
In a first embodiment, two or more pie menu levels are arranged concentrically with no direct relationship between levels.
In a second embodiment, two or more pie menu levels are arranged concentrically with each outer pie section related hierarchically with a corresponding inner level pie section and arranged within a common sector.
In a third embodiment, two or more pie menu levels are arranged concentrically as per the second embodiment, but with a reverse hierarchical relationship.
In a fourth embodiment, two or more pie menu levels are arranged concentrically with cursor selection located at a distance from the concentric pie menus.